


A Simple Walk in the Woods

by J93



Category: Original Work
Genre: One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 23:06:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9520019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J93/pseuds/J93
Summary: Something I wrote for a Creative Writing club at my autistic place, Albion House.





	

I have began to notice many things after leaving the house more often. Things that I would have never seen if I just stayed indoors.

There are days were the house is sadly bombarded with so much noise both inside and out, that it becomes excruciatingly stressing. From lawnmowers to Hoovers, it seemed summer was another one of those days where you had to clean the house from top to bottom. Although I don't partake in a lot of house work, I find that the amount of noise and unrest do not help me in my day to day struggles of autism, but contribute to it greatly. I try and cope with it by placing my ear defenders on and holding onto it tightly side by side with both hands, with my eyes closed. I then sit on top of my bed and say to myself that it would be over soon.

But when I opened my eyes and looked out my window and at my clock, realising it was now the afternoon, I decided to go on what is normally my last option – go outside. I'm okay with going outside. It was, after all, a nice day and that I was in desperate need to do something productive for the day that did not involve me going deaf. But sometimes the outside environments, as I've come to learn, are just as unpredictable and upsetting as the environments we create inside.

Never the less, I decided that I will go out anyway and find some peace and quiet. Something that would let my body and mind go free from such torture. So in situations like these, I normally go out for a small, lonely and quiet walk somewhere.

Although I have done walks before, it was never during the day time when people are also out walking just the same as me. So I needed to be prepared for my trek. The first thing on the agenda was my backpack. The backpack is the important item as it helps anyone like myself carry everything and anything that I might need; books to read, writing material for when inspiration strikes, an iPod for my favourite music, and, of course, a phone for emergencies. Also hidden deep below my many items were my secret snacks that only I would know about because I'm meant to be on a diet, but then again there are days where I just don't care!

Now that my backpack is ready, I walk downstairs, leave a note in the kitchen, put on sunglasses for added protection and take the first step outside the front door. Then there is the next decision on the agenda – where to go?

The duck pond? Next to the local pub and naturally not very peaceful. The local park? Not that exciting unless you are under eight years old and had friends. The school road? It's too long, I only want a small walk. So what about the woodland walk? It's short, not near anything noisy and also exiting as you never know what you'd expect along the way. So the woodland walk it is!

I walk towards the pathways of different directions and turn toward the path that leads deep into the woodlands. So I start walking, putting one foot in front of the other, just like most human beings would do. I just keep going forward, with my head lifted up to see the horizons of nature.

I look around at the trees the surround me, when there is a breeze to see the branches sway from side to side. I then turn my head to scan the woods as I walk past them hoping to seeing anything, like a deer jumping around or a small rabbit running across the path.

Then I come across a hunched tree on the side of the pathway. I then checked the surface to see if its dry and promptly sat down under the tree, with the shade. I feel my ears adapting to the new surrounding and my nerves and anxieties leave my mind as I slump.

I open my backpack and take out my books and start reading. I began to recognize that I get more immersed reading a story in the woods than I do when I'm in my bedroom or on the bus. Then I start reaching deep into my backpack for one of my secret snacks and, in a non-guilty way, eat it while looking over my shoulder.

After finishing my book, I lay back on the tree, taking in the sunshine. Halfway towards sleep and halfway on the awake world, when my dazed vision noticed something in the distance.

It's not often I see a deer, but two deer! Only twenty feet away from me! I could not believe it! The only time I see deer were in the distance running away from me or on one of them many documentaries that I vaguely remember seeing a long time ego.

They both walked in a slow pace from out of the tree line. I watched carefully and still. I don’t want to startle them. I just wanted to watch them. They had their heads down, sniffing the ground. Walking slowly around with a distance between them. Then they both raised their heads and leapt back from whence they came.

Then the peace settles in. The calm, stillness and silence. The natural sound of nature now taking over. I started taking in the whole moment. I lay there thinking about the two deer. Then I was so far back against the tree, I could see the blue sky through my sunglasses.

Sadly the beauty of it all did not last very long when my phone vibrates inside my pocket. It was an alarm, telling me it was time to go home for dinner time. I gently lifted myself up of the warm ground and picked up my backpack. I put in my ear pieces in and listened to my film soundtracks playlist from my iPod. On the way back I threw away all evidence of my snack-related crime and headed to my now clean and quiet home.

As time went on, I would leave the house more regularly, whether or not it was caused by a near autistic meltdown or just simply curiosity. It was not just the woodlands I would go back to either. I would go to the duck pond even if it was not naturally very peaceful, the ducks were an interesting bunch. The local park? Maybe not the park itself, but I almost forgotten it had a large football pitch that I could lay down on and just simply look up and dream. And the school road is a long path to walk, but I can bring a bigger backpack for the journey.

Like I said at the beginning; I have began to notice many things after leaving the house more often. Things that I would have never seen if I just stayed indoors.


End file.
